Thanks for all the advice so far. The tree is in focus, but the upload and size reduction has diminished the quality quite a bit. I agree that the photo is way too busy, but since the contest is sponsored by a landscaping outfit I figured it'd be good to show some of our landscaping and more. The deck is built around the tree.

I'll try the golden hour shot, as well as an artistic partial tree shot.

And I make it 3. That shot is worthy of being voted on compared to your first efforts. You have the composition and execution down. Now the same shot with some good shaped leaves that are more defineable in their shape to stand out from the background. The idea is to isolate the few leaves as subject. This is the closest so far.